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HRC-SL engages referral partners

The Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone (HRC-SL) yesterday engaged its partner institutions on the status of referral cases sent to them for action.

Even though the commission receives various types of complaints relating to every sector in the country, some of them do not fall within their mandate.

To ensure proper actions are taken, the commission established partnership with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that could better provide appropriate remedies for complainants sent to them.

The purpose of the referral meeting is to obtain information from partners, including the Sierra Leone Police, Ombudsman office and the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) on the progress of cases referred to them and also educates and encourages referral partners to have proper records of matters referred to them.

The meeting also identified and discussed possible challenges faced by referral partners in handling matters referred to them and to educate referral partners on the mandate, complaint handling procedures of the commission.

In her statement, Oversight Commissioner for the Directorate of Complaint, Investigations and Legal Services, Coleridge-Taylor, stated that the fight against human rights violation and abuses will not have been a success without the involvement of stakeholders.

She said even though they have the mandate of promoting and protecting human rights, their work would have been difficult without a multi stakeholder approach.

She added that they decided to initiate quarterly meetings with partners so that they could provide updates about complaints forwarded to them.

According to the 6th December 2017 update on referral cases with regards human right violations and abuses, the commission successfully followed-up six cases that were solved by different institutions, including the Family Support Unit of the police, National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) and RSLAF, among others.